Socially Most Trending News

.... The big fundamental shift has been the continuing growth in offshore wind and solar coming on. “We’ve gone from renewables being a part of the mix to often being a significant, majority part of the mix. ...
[Read full article on Guardian]

Latest Finance News related to Renewables

.... The big fundamental shift has been the continuing growth in offshore wind and solar coming on. “We’ve gone from renewables being a part of the mix to often being a significant, majority part of the mix. ...

....“It’s a recalibration off the back of the fact nuclear is not proving to be a practical, affordable technology. It’s not saying never [to nuclear], but the costs are coming down fast with renewables. ...

....Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, said Labour supported offshore wind but wanted to see windfarms built off the coast that were publicly owned by the UK. “Labour not only supports investment and real proactive support for the renewables sector but we also commit to ensuring more rapid growth and diversification of ownership within this important sector through the creation of publicly owned and locally accountable energy companies and co-operatives,” she said. ...

....As for the argument that we must pay up for reliable baseload supplies, there ought to be limits to how far it can be pushed. A nuclear premium of some level might be justified, but Hinkley lives in a financial world of its own, even before battery technology (possibly) shifts the economics further in favour of renewables. ...

.... Experts hailed Monday’s auction results, for a group of windfarms that will open early in the next decade, as evidence that large scale renewable projects had come of age in Britain. “The epoch of renewables as the most cost competitive technology has arrived,” said energy analysts Cornwall Insight, while the Economist Intelligence Unit said they showed “the trajectory of cheaper renewable technologies is irreversible”. ...

.... The energy giants have shown “absolutely no interest” in helping people understand how to reduce their energy usage, he says. And, since the big six remain heavily invested in existing energy infrastructure, their hold over the sector has slowed the shift towards renewables and smart tech, he adds. ...

....In 2016, transport accounted for 40% of the UK’s total energy consumption, with road transport accounting for three-quarters of this, but other countries such as Norway and India are ahead of the UK in their ambitions to switch to electric vehicles, the new study said. Along with a tougher target to make the move to zero emission vehicles, the study calls for additional funding for renewables between 2020 and 2025, bringing in zero-carbon standards for new homes and building energy efficiency improvements. ...

. The rise of electric cars will be a pyrrhic victory for the environment if they are powered by fossil fuels instead of renewables, according to the UK boss of the world’s biggest offshore windfarm developer. ...

....But it cautioned that there was “still debate over whether it will become commercially viable to flow electricity from a vehicle back onto the network to provide network services”. Quinn said a large share of power from renewables had “already become a reality”, and three of the report’s four scenarios predict that solar power will have the biggest share of generation capacity by 2050. ...

....But the choice of Helm, author of a new book on the slow demise of oil companies in the face of energy trends, will be controversial in some quarters because of his criticism of wind and solar power. While acknowledging that renewables are remaking the energy landscape, the professor of energy has criticised the cost of today’s windfarms and solar technology, calling them “expensive” and highlighting the “sheer cost” of electricity generated from renewable sources. ...

....Because BuildingIQ's clients are keen to save money on electricity, the system can't just try to keep consumption low and forget about context - it also has to be sparing with those microchanges when energy prices are higher. As market-watchers know, energy prices can fluctuate wildly within a single day based on, for example, peaks in demand and supply from variable resources like renewables. ...

....The potential carbon savings of a widespread shift to electric cars are huge. Although globally coal still accounts for about 40% of electricity generation and gas around 21%, countries such as the UK now source a significant amount of power from low carbon sources, such as renewables and nuclear. ...

....Rummelhoff said floating windfarms will come of age in the areas where conventional ones have been established, as countries such as the UK run out of suitable sites in shallower waters. But it is also talking with state governments in Hawaii and California about projects, and eyeing Japan and the new, pro-renewables government in Seoul. ...

....The group’s annual Energy Barometer report said Brexit was a new and “material concern” for further uncertainty. However, perception of risks from energy policy was slightly reduced from last year, when industry was suffering the fallout from the flurry of changes after the Conservatives took power in 2015, cutting renewables, carbon capture and energy efficiency programmes. ...

.... When the deal was finally signed by Theresa May’s administration last September, the energy landscape had been transformed. The economic case for Hinkley was “marginal”, says the NAO, and “less favourable, but reasonable, assumptions” about energy prices and renewables would have meant the deal was not value for money even on the business department’s own model. ...

....Feddersen argues that there are two reasons why this will not happen. One is the UK’s “capacity market”, which has been set to cope with power shortages as coal plants have closed and renewables have made supplies more intermittent. ...

....Coal consumption has now been declining for three years in China, as its economic boom and output has tailed off in energy-intensive sectors such as iron, steel and cement. The country’s decreasing reliance on the fuel, large population and enormous investment in renewables mean it is increasingly being seen as a global leader on climate change, after the US withdrew from the Paris agreement earlier this month. ...

....More than a fifth of investment by the largest oil and gas companies could be in wind and solar power in just over a decade, according to analysis of how global changes in energy will reshape the sector. Slowing demand for oil and forecasts of rapid growth in renewables posed both a threat and and opportunity BP, Shell and Total among others cannot ignore, said research group Wood Mackenzie. ...

....In the UK, wind, nuclear and solar power were together generating more electricity than gas and coal combined at 1pm on Wednesday, for the first time ever. Including hydropower and biomass burned at power stations such as Drax in North Yorkshire, renewables provided 50. ...

.... This financial year it expects to flip to 85% of revenues coming from international markets. “We’d been successful in the UK, benefiting from the support scheme, and then in May 2015 the Tories came to power and completely changed direction: they wanted a nuclear power plant [Hinkley Point C], and frustrated renewables,” said Frans van den Heuvel, the company’s chief executive. ...

.... That figure is normally around 50%. National Grid, which is tasked with ensuring a match between supply and demand for electricity, said it was excited but unfazed by the challenge of accommodating “significant volumes” of renewables. ...

....When the sale completes in the third quarter, Dong will be left to focus on its core business of developing and selling windfarms, such as the one it recently built off the Liverpool coast using the world’s biggest turbines. Henrik Poulsen, the company’s chief executive, said: “The transaction completes the transformation of Dong Energy into a leading pure play renewables company. ...

....“It’s that extremely rapid enhanced frequency response that renewable technologies currently can’t provide,” said Elsworth. “Battery technology is a good thing for the system and a good thing for bringing more renewables on. ...

....One right-leaning thinktank said the manifesto oversold the benefits of fracking. Sam Hall, a senior researcher for Bright Blue, said: “While stringently regulated fracking could meet the UK’s demand for gas for a couple more decades, the Conservatives’ priority should be incentivising cheap renewables, which are attracting the majority of new energy investment worldwide, as part of its modern industrial strategy. ...

.... That would seem likely if the Tories win the general election. The UK has lobbied Europe in recent years in favour of carbon-cutting targets and against ones for renewables, to leave ministers free to pursue their preference to largely use new nuclear to meet climate goals, rather than wind or solar. ...

.... . Borg said European power companies are attracted to the UK market because of two fundamentals: tight margins between energy supply and demand which means a constant appetite for new entrants; and the UK’s legally enshrined climate targets, which will remain when the UK leaves the EU and ensure demand for energy generated by renewables or nuclear. ...

....Hewson said asset owners tended to have a “herd instinct” and many people saving for retirement haven’t focused on the risk of a climate-induced financial crisis and exercised their concern through choice of fund. “The government downplaying the need to transition to renewables doesn’t help . ...

....The control room tweeted the predicted milestone, adding that it is also set to be the first 24-hour coal-free period in Britain. The UK has had shorter coal-free periods in 2016, as gas and renewables such as wind and solar play an increasing role in providing the country with power. ...

.... The minister had “seemed very positive” about the idea of allowing them to compete for subsidies, he said. “He said he could’ve said no, but he felt that because of the unique island factors – the benefits not just for Lewis and Scotland but for the UK deriving from island renewables – he was wanting to study the consultation,” said Maciver. ...

...."Contrary to the picture being portrayed by certain quarters, China's climate pledge suggests that coal will continue to be central to its energy solutions, albeit through efficiencies including the use of new coal technologies. "In India's case, it's simply not true that renewables are displacing coal. ...

....The authors predict an annual bill reduction of £150 by 2030, driven by a mass switch to LED lights, and full take-up of more efficient condensing gas boilers. This, they say, would more than compensate for another £100 a year rise from increased renewables deployment. ...

....The state department, which oversees foreign affairs, faces a budget cut of about 28%. And the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in line for cuts to programmes President Trump does not agree with, such as climate change and renewables. ...

.... Figures published by the regulator last week show costs to energy suppliers have continued to increase since January, mainly due to wholesale prices going up. So there is also a school of thought that says extending the amount of electricity the UK gets from renewables – currently at 25% – would be the best way to protect billpayers from fluctuating wholesale prices. ...

....Nevertheless, campaigners maintain that Shell’s approach to climate change is not credible. Greg Muttitt, of the US-based NGO Oil Change International, said: “Shell is doing more to move from oil to gas than some of its competitors but that’s not the right move – the move needs to be to step away from fossil fuels [and into renewables]. ...

.... It is a response to globalisation, but not in the way he means. All the other talking points are in the omissions – no mention of climate change or renewables, but a fuel duty freeze and tax break for North Sea drilling. ...

....ON defended the rise as the company’s first in more than two years, and argued that it was due to factors beyond its control. Tony Cocker, the company’s chief executive, said: “It is an announcement we never want to make, but is due in large part to the fact that many of the costs we don’t directly control, such as policies including EMR [energy market reform], RO [the renewables obligation] and the energy company obligation [ECO], which are paid for via people’s energy bills, are increasing. ...

.... However, slowing growth in Europe prompted the solar industry to call for the EU to set more ambitious renewable energy targets. “We need to build a major industrial project around solar and renewables. ...

....A collapse in the use of coal has driven UK carbon emissions down to levels barely seen since the Victorian era, new figures show. Coal use fell by a record 52% in 2016 on the previous year in the face of cheap gas, higher domestic carbon prices, renewables and other factors. ...

....". Mr Holloway's start-up business was funded by the EU and the business department BEIS, but industry experts complain that building insulation research has received a tiny fraction of the sums channelled into glamorous renewables. ...

.... The cause on this occasion was no less pre-eminent a body than a Lords committee, comprising former chancellor Norman Lamont and other heavyweight peers. “To reduce carbon emissions, governments have subsidised renewables, passing on the cost to consumers in their electricity bills. ...

.... Robert Gross, director of the centre for energy policy and technology at Imperial College, London, said: “The term ‘post truth’ has become over-used. Yet it would be possible to take all the evidence the committee presents and tell a completely different story: there’s been huge success in growing renewables and reducing emissions from the power sector. ...

....“But the government’s plan to protect them is toothless. There’s almost nothing to stop Macquarie from misusing this vital public institution by failing to invest in early-stage renewables, and even funding fossil fuel projects like fracking. ...

.... The impact of renewable energy subsidies on bills has previously been broken down, but the effect on bills from subsidies to coal power stations for providing backup power, for example, are not. However, McNeal defended the Conservative party, arguing it was unfairly derided as anti-renewables. ...

.... “But on the longer term outlook, only seven out of the EU’s 28 countries have clear policies and volumes [for wind power] in place for the period beyond 2020. “We today see less political and policy ambition for renewables than we did five or even three years ago, across the member states. ...

....His answer to that balancing challenge is to persuade big industrial and commercial energy users – water companies, supermarkets, the NHS – to shift their power consumption to the times of day when the sun is shining, the wind is blowing and demand is lower. “What you really want to do is consume power when the renewables are there, and you need to price to signal that. ...

....Polluting fuels could lose 10% of market share to solar power and clean cars within a decade, the report by the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Carbon Tracker Initiative found. A 10% loss of market share was enough to cause the collapse of the coal mining industry in the US, while Europe’s five major utilities lost €100bn (£85bn) between 2008 and 2013 because they did not prepare for an 8% increase in renewables, the report said. ...

....8bn (£3bn) to a company headed by Linda Cook, who left the Anglo-Dutch group more than seven years ago after missing out on the top job. American-born Cook, nicknamed the first lady of oil and gas by the City, had been at Shell for 29 years and was latterly in charge of the group’s gas and renewables businesses. ...

....BP has been attacked in the past for repeatedly underestimating the growth of wind and solar power in its annual outlook. Its latest update expects renewables to be the fastest-growing fuel source in coming years, at 7. ...

....Given that the top five areas that voted for leave were all coastal communities, it’s time for a “blue new deal”. That means generating prosperous local economies by harnessing the potential of the sea to revitalise our coast by boosting industries such as small-scale fishing, tourism, aquaculture and renewables. ...

....“The past 12 months have seen a year of firsts for the UK’s electricity system. At the broadest level, the UK grid is changing as centralised power stations are joined by thousands of smaller sites, particularly renewables, as part of efforts to decarbonise electricity supplies,” wrote Simon Evans, policy editor at Carbon Brief. ...

....Concerns about the social and economic costs of China’s air pollution have increased as the northern parts of the country, including the capital Beijing, have battled a bout of hazardous smog. Illustrating the scale of the challenge, the NEA repeated on Thursday that renewables will still only account for just 15% of overall energy consumption by 2020, equivalent to 580m tonnes of coal. ...

....“Renewables will be cheaper than new fossil power stations by 2025 at the latest if we allow companies to build, learn, and cut their costs. But the government has been holding back the final bit of support needed to make renewables subsidy free. ...

....Since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, nuclear energy has been a much harder sell. Some governments have opted to scale back how much they planned to rely on nuclear as an electricity source, or (as in the case of Taiwan) turn away from nuclear energy altogether to focus on renewables. ...

.... A record 29% of Scotland’s electricity was exported, with almost all of it going to England. The renewables and nuclear industry said the figures for Scotland were “fantastic” and demonstrated how carbon emissions could be cut while maintaining security of supply. ...

....There was relief all round, then, that EU approval arrived, just as the long-serving chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, predicted. The handout may only be a last hurrah for biomass subsidies since the last UK government made clear its preference for offshore wind in the renewables stakes. ...

....7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. "Over the last six years, the cost of wind and solar came down 60% and 80% respectively, proving that renewables are increasingly becoming the lowest cost option," said Urs Holzle, senior vice president for technical infrastructure. ...

....But manufacturers misled governments about their ability to clean up the local pollution effects, so now diesel vehicles are being banned to clean up local air. In their place will come electric and hydrogen vehicles, which are perfect for climate policy, if the power comes from renewables. ...

....The IEA issued a range of long-term predictions on the oil price, depending on how quickly the world adopts low-carbon policies. If countries do not implement new green policies, a barrel of Brent crude could rise to $150 by 2040, it predicted, whereas a huge investment in renewables could see it limited to $80. ...

....They will benefit if Trump either persuades Nato to increase defence spending or if he reduces US involvement in Europe and forces local governments to lift their own expenditure. Remember “climate change as a Chinese fiction”? Trump has already said he would cancel the Paris agreement to cut emissions, leaving renewables companies out in the cold. ...

....Wind turbines could soon supply most of the UK’s electricity, the boss of the country’s largest windfarm operator has said, as he confirmed plans to sell its oil and gas division. Dong Energy said the sale would underpin its plan to become a “global leader in renewables”, 44 years after the company was set up to exploit Denmark’s North Sea oilfields. ...

....The solar farm will be managed by a new council-owned company. Councillor Dale Heenan, Swindon council cabinet member for transport and sustainability, says the scheme marries the economic benefits of renewables with finding an innovative way for people to receive a healthy investment return, adding: “I am proud Swindon is the home of the UK’s first green energy Isa following our very successful solar bond earlier this year. ...